Week 4 Update (Knees, Skiing and Stem Cells: Part 4)

A bit like the Seahawks offensive line, the last three weeks have seen pretty steady improvement in my knees. Swelling is now pretty much gone, walking 99% pain-free. I’ve managed 5 spin class at the gym with resistance little more than a flat road equivalent, but a solid pace, and 20-minute sessions on an elliptical at pretty light resistance. Enough to cause a tad of body leakage, which makes me happy. Its good to earn a shower.

I’ve also had five sessions with Jenna, a physical therapist at the local MTI clinic. I’ve been really impressed with the service and treatment there, professional and informative and funny, and I’ve no doubt it’s been helpful. They did discover a ‘clicky’ – technical term – lump in the back of my left knee, which caused some consternation two weeks ago. Luckily, it wasn’t a stem cell inspired growth in the wrong place, just a small pocket of fluid from the injection. It has improved in two weeks and is all but gone now.

I’m still taking it super easy though. Walking slowly and carefully up and down stairs and downhill to minimize impact, and all exercise is gentle compared to my pre-injection intensity.  I’m doing lots of upper body work, but all sat or lying down. I even position the bench next to the weight rack so I can transfer the weights one at a time with minimal steps. Pathetic really 🙂

In summary, things are promising. Given the lack of stress on the knees, it’s hard to know if this is real stem cell-inspired progress or just an artifact of me doing very little for the first time in decades. This week I slowly start to turn up the exercise dial. Still nothing serious, but it should tell us all a little more about the state of things in my knee interiors. #fingerscrossed.